Redemption
by Firecadet
Summary: a follow-up to Apocalypse where Vestara turns back to the light. probably AU in the long term, but for now i will publish as fanon. an debt to the most tragic love story in star wars will also be paid off. Jaina & Jag also feature.
1. To turn from darkness

Ossus, 44.7 ABY

As Vestara disembarked from Ship, a momentary pang of regret ran through her body like a shikkar.

"What is wrong, mistress?" ship asked her through their telepathic link.

"Nothing, my friend," she replied the same way, "I regret that we will soon be apart for a time, with you unable to help me."

"Why would that be, mistress?"

"Because of this." She reached into her pocket and felt the small, metal tube she was seeking. With only an instant of hesitation, she pressed a small button on one end of the tube. Almost instantly, a thermal detonator ripped the heart out of the sith meditation sphere, killing him instantly. She had made her decision. She would become a Jedi, if she was still permitted to by the Jedi Order.

As she walked through the arid wastes of the planet, her destination was already visible, with the tall, flat-topped temple spire already seeming to dominate the landscape. When boredom set in, however, she began to muse over how she had come here.

Two days prior, Nar Shadda

To an casual glance, she would have looked like another casualty of the planet's nightlife, who, too drunk to stand, had found a doorway to sprawl in. Vestara Khai, self-proclaimed sith lord, was trying to forget the one thing that had almost turned her from the dark side's embrace: her love for Ben Skywalker, Jedi knight, and the son of Jedi grand master Luke Skywalker. After three hours solid dissipation, she was extremely drunk, and, after an incident where she had tossed three Aqualish into a trash compactor, had decided to try and sleep it off, with traditional drunken wisdom, in the nearest doorway.

"Mistress," she heard muzzily, "what are you doing?"

"Trying to forget, ship." She said out loud. "If I stay like this for a while, I might dull the pain."

"You know better. This is no way for a Sith Lord to behave."

"I'm willing to try." She muttered, than sank into a drunken sleep.

When she woke, she saw a small green figure, with long ears, leaning on a stick before her.

"Arise, young Jedi. Role for you in the order, the Force till has. Herh herh herh." It instructed her before beginning to cackle in a slightly quavering, high pitched voice.

She muttered a keshri curse word, and then turned over. Abruptly, however, a feeling of euphoria came over her, and she was violently sick.

"Received my blessing upon you, you have, Padawan Khai. To Ossus now go forth. Yes, hmmm."

The figure suddenly vanished from sight, and she felt a ripple in the Force, as it rushed to fill the hole left by the strange figure.

Just after the strange little figure had disappeared, she realised she was completely sober, and felt curiously at peace after the encounter, and actually began to realise the horrific truth about her sith actions. She would need ship for one last voyage, she decided as she walked back to the docking bay, intending to pay for the berth, rather than simply say "you don't want me to pay for that" with the traditional hand gesture accompanying the words. She would fly to Ossus, and prove, once and for all, that even for a Sith, redemption was not impossible.

About the same time, Jedi knight's quarters, Ossus

If his dad found out, Ben knew there would be trouble. After nearly a month of heartache, Ben had finally opened a small box his uncle had left, and discovered the contents to be a one litre bottle of Whyren's Reserve from before the clone wars, with a note from his uncle reading "Enjoy. May it dampen your sorrows."

He was now about a third of the way through the bottle, and things were beginning to look a lot better. Humming a few bars to himself, he tipped back the bottle backwards, and jumped to his feet, startled, because no fluid had come out.

"I would advise drinking that not, young Skywalker"

The voice came from the foot of his bed, where a figure his father had described so often was standing. The very slight shimmer gave away the fact that it was not of this world, but was still in it.

"Master Yoda." He replied, flustered. "What is this visit about?"

"About, hmm? Merely passing on the news the friend prompting your drinking is returning to the fold, I am."

"Vestara? She has turned her back on the dark side."

"To clear the darkness on Nar Shadda I gave her the help she needed. In a worse state than you, was she. Indeed, she was indeed. Of the Dark Side from her body I cleared the taint. Hmmmmmm.

"Thank you, master. When will she arrive?"

"Arrive in the time it takes for her ship to reach here from Nar Shadda, will she."

Then he was gone, and Ben could feel a ripple in the Force, before a sudden surge in his gets sent him sprinting for the nearest 'fresher station.


	2. the force is strong

As she approached the Jedi temple, Vestara paused behind a small rock formation twenty metres away from the temple in order to steady her nerves, knowing that this part of her plan to join the Jedi order was potentially risky, and could easily be misconstrued as an attack. Finally gathering her nerves, she stepped out from behind the formation, and walked towards the temple, exaggeratedly drawing her saber as she did so.

The gate guards, four senior apprentices, reacted instantly, indicating the presence of a clearly defined drill, where one dove into the small guard hut, shutting and locking the door in the process, and the other three drew their sabers and ignited them.

Vestara, for her part, stood still, and then threw her unlit saber by the blade emitter, sending it cartwheeling through the desert planet's air to land at the feet of the three guards standing outside. She then shed her outer robe, before removing her utility belt and placing it on the ground, all the time holding it by the buckles, to exaggerate the fact she was unarmed. Finally, she was signalled to approach with her hands on her head, her saber having been passed inside the guard hut, and did so.

When she reached the hut, one of the guards told her to "place both hands on the wall, Vestara." Once she had complied, two guards stepped towards her from the side, a buzzing directly behind her indicating one still had his saber drawn, and then Vestara almost collapsed as a fist was driven into her right kidney.

As she tried to stay standing, her hands were ripped from the wall and twisted behind her back, before being cuffed there in a stack position, with her left arm level with the small of her back, and her right arm nearly between her shoulder blades.

Her captors then dragged her inside the temple grounds, before a blow to the back of her head left her knocked out.

~0~

Like all Jedi knights, Ben served a rotation on the temple security desk, and, predictably, he was the man behind the cameras as Vestara made her dramatic appearance. As he watched the arrest proceedings, Ben winced at the unnecessary brutality, and made a note to have the puncher reprimanded by his father. "Temple security to gate detail," he commed.  
"Temple security, gate detail, go ahead."  
"Prisoner is not enemy combatant, repeat, not enemy combatant. Brutality not required, bring her to me for interview over." He instructed them.  
"Understood, temple security. Gate detail out."

Ben sat back at his desk, momentarily, before wandering what force had compelled Vestara to return.

Ord Mantell, 44.7 ABY

As she sipped a cocktail, Jaina marvelled the just how smooth and clean the beach sand was in this part of the planet. She and her husband of two weeks, Jagged Fel had decided to hire a small island on the planet to get away from a mixture of scandal brokers, holotabloid harassment, and several bounty hunters Jag had had sent after him by enemies he had made as chief of state.

As she turned over, she realised just how long it had been, in some way, and how short a time in others, since Jaina had been a sixteen year-old squadron leader in her first serious relationship, and Jag had been the new pilot, from a different culture, she had fallen in love with. The fact that she was also a Jedi, not yet knighted, had meant little to either of them. It was their combined belief in doing their duties which had temporarily driven them apart. The Swarm War had opened the gap further, before it was driven closed by the second galactic civil war.

Abruptly, a high pitched whine tore her from the reflective trance she had fallen into, and after a second, she realised what it was. "TIEs incoming!" she yelled to Jag, as she Force pushed him towards a small cave. She stood her ground, summoning her saber to hand as the first TIE let a volley lose towards her.

Coruscant, Shalto Heights apartment complex, 44.7 ABY

It was like she had never left, Tahiri decided, as she relaxed in a warm bath, having just finished a set of saber cadences intended to keep her battle ready. The recent war, and prior to that, a sentence of execution, had taken their toll on both her spirit and mind, and the ability to relax in a grass floored apartment, with no other being in sight was…. Abruptly, her train of thought was broken by the sound of her door chimes being activated. Swearing to herself, she slowly clambered from her bath as the chime sounded again, seemingly more insistent, and, with a simple over the head dress on, went to answer the door.

With her quickly summoned lightsaber in the palm of her hand, she reached out with the force. What the Force told her, however, was impossible. All of a sudden, the emotions of over a half lifetime without her soul-mate came crashing down, and as she opened the door, and saw through it that well remembered form, who seemed to be the same age relative to her as he had always been, she collapsed into the arms of Anakin Solo.

He held her for one of those infinite moments, before kissing her tenderly on the top of her head, and helping her inside, depositing her on her couch, and then disappearing into the kitchen, returning with a large cup of tea for her.

"Here you go, Tahiri. Drink this." He murmured, he voice deeper and closer to his fathers than before. "I have no idea how this happened. I thought I was dead since Myrkr, the same as you did. It felt like I was dragged out of the Force back into tangibility by someone who wanted their life to mean something, and was willing to give their body in exchange for peace."

"Dab Hantaq. He was in love with me, Jaina said"

"And he was willing to die so I might live again. Brave guy."

"Anakin, can you still…"

"Use the force? I think so, even without anger to power it."

"I would still love you if you were unable to use the force, Anakin."

"And I love you too, Tahiri. Shall we?"

"Yes." She told him, before he used the Force to remove her dress.


	3. even the best may fail

As she paced her cell for the hundredth time, Vestara realised that even the main prison in Tahv, back on Kesh, had not felt as desolate and disconcerting. She had woken up dumped on the small bench that ran the length of the cell, with her hands still cuffed behind her back. When she had tried to release the cuffs with the Force, nothing had happened. After a volley of mostly Keshri swear words, she had tried to lift a small jug on a shelf above the bed. When she failed, she began to panic, wondering if she had been stripped of the Force somehow by the Jedi.

For Ben, watching her using the cell camera was slightly amusing, but also a bit of a wrench, because, after all, he was watching the girl he loved, despite everything, trying and failing to get a simple pair of binders off of her wrists. When he realised her distress, ben decided to pay her a visit.

After simply walking down a flight of stairs which linked the temple security office to the temple holding facility, Ben stopped outside her rather traditional cell, which used bars rather than a force field to delineate the confinement space, for the simple reason most captives were 'just being polite' rather than actually being confined. When she saw him, she looked up and rather submissively asked; "where's the Force in me? Have I been stripped of it?"

"No Ves, you haven't been stripped of the Force; you're merely in an ysalamiri force bubble while we figure out what to do with you. It saves me from having to sit down here all the time with my lightsaber out.

"Ah. Ok, can you take at least these cuffs off me?"

"No can do, Ves." Ben replied. "Dad says you wear those until he has debriefed you himself."

"How long will that be?"

"That depends entirely on your manners. If you keep swearing, even in Keshri, it might be several weeks. Alternatively, if you ask me really nicely, you might have your hands free later in the day."

"The door?"

"That stays locked until you have proven you want to become a Jedi, and aren't just a kriffing mole, trying to kill Allana." Briefly he broke off, restraining the sudden urge to disembowel her. "Why, Ves? Why did you try and kill Allana?" he ended with a half sob, half yell.

"I was trying to get to Abeloth, Ben. Allana would never have reached the throne with her on the loose."

"So you thought you would help your Sith buddies kill a nine-year-old girl, a pair of Order members, and anyone else who got in the way!" He threw at her, the relative quiet in his voice making it even more venomous. Even without the Force to tell her how angry he was, Vestara suddenly realised he was having to restrain an urge to kill her. "It's not like that, Ben. I had to prove my loyalty." She was almost pleading with him. Unable to restrain himself any longer, Ben stormed off rather than stay, which would almost certainly lead to him killing her.

As she heard Ben receding up the stairs, Vestara sank down onto her cell's bunk and cried, suddenly realising the truth of another act. She was ashamed of her actions, both for the callousness of the sacrifice she had been prepared to make, and the hatred it caused Ben to hold for her. She suddenly realised that the rift between them would potentially never heal, and just collapsed into tears, as the full shame of her actions suddenly struck her, breaking down any justification she might have used to excuse them.

For Ben, the sound of Vestara trying to excuse her actions had almost driven him to simply say, "She can never be redeemed." If he had reached that conclusion, he would have simply killed her. Only the fact she had been more pleading than stating had stayed his hand, and even to do so had proved a struggle. As he stumbled back into the security office, he almost walked into his father, before realising he was there.

"Blast it Ben Skywalker, what was that in aid of?" Luke demanded. "From what I saw, you nearly killed her."

"That kriffing little piece of hutt-slime just tried to justify her attempt on Allana's life." Ben practically spat at his father.

"No, Ben. She explained what she thought justified it, even though in your eyes, it was a kriffing poor excuse. If you look now, I doubt she believes it anymore."

"You think _that_," he gestured at the monitor showing her cell, with her sobbing in a heap on the small bunk the cell provided, "Is remorse for what she did to the _falcon_, and nearly did to Uncle Han, Artoo and wanted to do to Allana?"

"Yes I do, Ben. If you were a bit more charitable, she might have convinced you of that too. The Force calm in Luke's voice washed over Ben, and he suddenly realised his own actions were not always better than hers.

"Now, take ten minutes to meditate, then come down and join me."

"Yes, dad."

~0~

As she batted the first volley of cannon bolts skywards, Jaina glanced over her shoulder to check on Jag, letting the force guide her hand as two more salvos of bolts hammered into her saber and the ground around her, pelting her with shards of stone and grit.

By after the ties had faded into the distance, which only took seconds, she looked round to see a pair of shuttles approaching her position, the ramps already down, and the instantly recognizable silhouette of Mandolorian supercommandos descending the ramp, weapons drawn, Jaina quickly realized that even with jag, the twenty or so Mandolorians she could sense would quickly overwhelm them if she tried to stand and fight. "Go!" She yelled to jag. "We need to go now."

As she started sprinting for were they had left their small, unarmed skiff, Jaina began to wonder if she and Jag would make it out alive.


	4. And victory may not always be assured

As Luke slowly descended the stairs into the detention centre, he breathed a secret sigh of relief that he did not have to disarm Ben after vaulting them. He knew his son well enough to know it had been very close to that being required when Ben stormed back up the stairs.

When he got to Vestara's cell, he was slightly surprised at the sheer horror on her face, increased as each deed was re-evaluated. He could not restrain himself from simply going into her cell and holding her gently to him. He knew how hard it was to realize too late the truth of actions preformed under the influence of the dark side of the Force, and that, for Vestara, the pain of regret in this way would be a new pain, one she had never fully felt before.

As Luke held her, he reached behind her and loosed her cuffed hands, realising the sudden loss of any necessity the binders may have had. As soon as her hands were free, Vestara simply wrapped her arms around him, and he began a whispered monologue of comfort in her ear.

After several minutes, she regained some of her composure, and he gently released her, simply choosing to sit with her on her cot.

"That wasn't very good, was it, Master Skywalker?" she asked him after another minute.

"Even I did that once, Vestara. Sadly, the dark side holds few secrets for too many members of the order. Several of the masters have felt the dark side. Even I, Grand Master Luke Skywalker, once fell into darkness. You need not fear any accusations of weakness in that regard," He reassured her. "Ben still loves you. He merely struggles to contain his own anger, a sad relic of his brief brush with the darkness. Your act in nearly killing Allana Solo reminded him to much of one of his darkest moments, where he left a young girl to die."

"Do I deserve redemption, Master Skywalker? Despite what I've done?" she was almost pleading with him.

"Everyone deserves redemption, Vestara. Realising you need it is the hard part. For all your crimes, some of the masters could be considered far guiltier. Take Master Durron, for example. He destroyed a star system in an attempt to kill someone who had fled there. Nearly 25 million men, women and children died because of him that day. Even his brother, who he was trying to rescue, was killed by him."

"And you let him into the Jedi Order after that?"

"I did. Because he had realised how wrong he was."

"Without me, Master Skywalker, the Sith would have stayed marooned on Kesh for the next thousand years. I have all those deaths to answer for."

"You didn't pull the trigger, Vestara Khai. That's the one difference between you and Kyp Durron."

"I understand, Master."

~0~

After the proscribed ten minutes, Ben managed to calm down, and realise that some of his anger at Vestara was really directed at himself. As he calmly returned to the detention block, he heard his father gently consoling Vestara, and remembered his own feelings about his brush with the dark side. He decided to live and let live, and would support his father in accepting her.

~0~

The intercourse had been frenzied and all-consuming, as it was liable to be, as both of them considered it their first time, and they had been parted for nearly twenty years. After several hours, Anakin, exhausted by the demands Tahiri had been making on his body, finally called a halt. "Ok Tahiri. I think we've done enough for one day, he told her, as he used the Force to summon some of the errant bed linen they had sprayed everywhere. "We can go again tomorrow." He added, at her crestfallen look.

Once the bed and bedroom had been returned to something like their former glory, Tahiri made a suggestion to Anakin they would both later come to regret. "Let's go and see your parents. They will want to know you are alive." She ignored the small shiver of warning from the force, deciding to drive extra vigilantly just in case.

~0~

For Jaina, she was never more alive than in moments like the one she was currently in, weaving across a rocky flat plain under heavy fire from a team of eighteen Mandolorian mercenaries. She had managed to incapacitate one of the twenty who had started the pursuit, and a lethally accurate shot from Jag had accounted for another, the slug punching through the T visor of the Mandolorian's helm. Jag had decided to carry the more primitive sidearm in place of his normal blaster for customs reasons, and because he did not expect an assassination attempt that Jaina could not handle alone.

'"Get the kriffer on the right," she yelled to Jag. "His last volley was a bit close for comfort." With only twenty of the half inch rounds left, Jag was taking more care than usual with his shots.

Abruptly though, the matter was decided for them when three Mandolorian Tra'Kad gunships appeared over the islands one rise and trained all twenty-four available guns on them. After the warning shot, Jaina quickly dropped her saber, clapped both hands on the top of her head, and knelt down, with Jag mimicking her a second later. As the knelt there, both of them hoped they weren't about to be executed while kneeling in the dirt, as a volley of blaster bolts came whining in.


	5. As heroes fall

After the massive salvo had passed, Jaina was amazed to find both she and Jag were still alive. The sight of ten Mandolorians, their anger visible simply through their bearing, approaching them, made her begin to suspect that the situation was a lot worse than if they were dead.

She was unsurprised when two of the mercenaries approaching them withdrew sets of fiberbinders from their utility belts. Jaina knew of the devices, but, in a perverse way, was quite keen to try them on. If they were Jedi-proof, she would be very surprised, and very helpless.

~0~

As he approached, Ben was startled to see Vestara wrapped around Luke, her head buried in the curve of his shoulder. From the set of her shoulders, and the soothing tone in Luke's voice as he talked to her, he guessed she was crying. As he stepped into the cell and expanded his force presence, she looked up.

Her face was a study in woe, with tear streaks marring her usually clean cheeks. Her eyes were reddened from the amount of crying she had one, and her usually tidy hair was in some disarray. The gleam of hope in her eyes at seeing him was unmistakeable, despite their recent confrontation.

Without needing to be prompted, he dropped onto the bench, and, once his father had seen that Ben's lightsaber was not attached to his belt, his father left them there. Almost instantly Ben drew Vestara to him, and, for the first time, he kissed her without any restraint, before tipping her backwards onto the cot and using the Force to lift her dress over her shoulders.

Around the corner, Luke let out a mental breath as he felt the storm of lover's emotions roiling through the Force, and relaxed, before tensing up again as he suddenly remembered just how much paperwork had built up during his exile. As Kenth Hammer, the first of two inter-rim masters was no longer among the living, all his paperwork needed to be signed off or burnt by Luke. Grimacing, he made his way towards what he expected to be death by bureaucracy.

~0~

"Kriff," Jaina muttered as the fiberbinders applied to her wrists were drawn close. "Easy with the cuffs there." The Mandolorian binding her hands simply cuffed her round the back of her head, then cinched the two loops extra tight. Then she was instructed to "Put your ankles together, Jedi bitch." As she was already kneeling, the action required little squirming, but the position she ended up in was extremely unstable. As the Mandolorian bent over and looped the two straps around her ankles, she decided to try and make her hands freeable. Two seconds later, she realised that the devices would not slacken their grip on her wrists, even with her exerting all her force strength against them. At that point, she realised the trip to whoever wanted them captured would not be a very comfortable one.

~0~

When Anakin rang the bell of his parent's apartment, it was C-3PO who answered the door.

"Master Anakin?" the droid queried. "Is that really you?"

"Yes, Threepio, it is me."

"It's good to see you again, master Anakin, oh thank the maker, it is good. Where have you been?"

"That question is rather difficult to answer." Anakin told the droid, then smiled. "But it is fair to say it was a place I will inevitably visit again, one day in the future."

By now, Leia had heard enough. "All right, whoever you are. Good joke. Now turn the kriffing holoshroud off, and leave, before…" she paused, suddenly reaching out with the force. "Anakin?" she almost whispered to herself. "Is that truly you?"

"I think so, Mom" he replied, deadpan. "It could just be another droid, but, since I can use the Force, it's highly unlikely."

Hearing the conversation on the doorstep, Han put down the blaster he was cleaning and walked towards the door. As he heard Leia talking to someone who sounded a lot like one of his dead sons, he slightly hurried, feeling his heart speed up.

As he came round the corner, he looked the man standing on the doorstep in the face, and suddenly, he realised it was Anakin.

As his father came round the corner, Anakin looked him in the face, and saw the old man's face go white. Abruptly, and suddenly, Han Solo clutched at his chest, staggered, then collapsed onto the floor. All three Jedi present could feel the waves of pain emanating from his chest. As it all went black, Han saw Leia kneeling by him, her hands on his chest, and felt her begin pushing rhythmically, as Anakin sound the apartment's medical alarm. The normally strident klaxon suddenly ceased to sound in his ears, as all the lights went out.


	6. The Force guards its own

Luke was jolted out of a state of general boredom when the room's holocom suddenly started chiming. As he glanced at the display, he noticed it read "Leia/Han, Coruscant. Call is URGENT." At that, Luke picked up straight away. Almost instantly, his sister's face resolved over the projector.

"Luke." The tone of her voice immediately made him begin to go for his grab bag. "Come to Coruscant immediately."

"What's happened? Is Han ok?" Luke asked as he fished the small bag out of his desk

"Han's being rushed to the temple medcenter as I speak. Anakin somehow came back, and when Han saw him, he suddenly kneeled over. He's had a heart attack, and Cilghal doesn't know if he's going to make it."

"Anakin's back? How?"

"I don't know. He came round with Tahiri on his arm and was met at the door by Threepio. I arrived soon after, and thought it was just some prankster with a voice modulator and holoshroud of him. Then I looked through the Force, and realised my son was standing on the doorstep. Han came through from the armoury, and you know the rest."

"I'm on my way, Leia. Tell Han to hang in there until I arrive."

Luke immediately grabbed his comlink and commed first the temple hangers, asking for the Jade Shadow to be made ready for launch, then his son.

Ben however, was slightly too busy to immediately answer. After his father sent him a Force urge to do so, he reluctantly rolled off Vestara, then used the Force to summon his comlink.

"Dad. What's so urgent?"

"Your uncle's had a heart attack. Put the cuffs back on Vestara, lock her cell, and get to the shadow's hanger in the next ten minutes."

"Kriff."

"Language. I've already got your grab bag, so just get aboard ASAP."

"Yes, dad." Ben ended the call.

"Ves, I've got to go now, dad says you need to put your binders back on, and I'll lock the cell on my way out."

"Ben," She answered kittenishly. "Is it really that urgent?"

"Yes. Just be a good girl until I get back."

As he darted out of the cell, gathering his clothes as he did so, he narrowly dodged one of Vestara's shoes. Once all his clothing was through the door, he quickly kicked it shut, hearing the door lock itself with a click. Inside, the ysalamiri generated force-field reactivated, trapping her inside, as the cell walls were a mesh to fine to get a hand through. As ben again gestured for her to put her cuffs back on, she realised she had not choice either way, but choose to fasten her hands in front of her rather than behind her own back, for dignities sake.

~0~

By now, Jaina was face down on the floor, languishing in the belly of a Mandolorian Tra'Kad gunship, with Jag lying next to her. Once both of them had been bound hand and foot, a strip of mesh tape had been placed over each of their mouths, along with space liner blindfolds over their eyes. The result was a general claustrophobic feeling, particularly for Jaina, who was used to free motion and if she was tied, being able to escape at any time. Jedi temple medcenter, Coruscant

In the small room where Han lay, the only audible sound was the regular, rhythmic "bloop, bloop" produced by the life support machine he was plugged into. The only splash of colour, aside from the monitor, was provided by a small spray of flowers gathered from the floor of Tahiri's apartment.

Outside, Leia, Anakin and Tahiri sat in a nervous vigil, waiting either for news or the arrival of the remainder of the expected additional family members Leia had called, although Leia knew they were still nearly two days away from Coruscant.

Anakin suddenly broke the silence. "Mum, where are Jaina and Jacen?" he asked. Almost instantly, a momentary wave of grief came crashing through the Force, and he asked; "are they both dead?"

"No, Anakin. Jaina, last time we checked, was alive. Jacen, however, is dead."

"The Vong?"

"I'll tell you later." She told him, gently.

If it was possible the Jade Shadow knew the Skywalkers were needed elsewhere, it seemed to, having managed to shave a parsec off the journey time. They wasted no time vaulting into ben's airspeeder, and beginning an authorised blue-light run to the Jedi temple.

Cilghal, once their transceiver was outside, quickly opened the access bay nearest to the ITU, so that Luke and Ben could sprint to arrive inside five minutes of landing.

Leia, waiting urgently outside Han's small chamber, was relieved to hear Luke and Ben pounding their way through the corridor.

As Luke turned the corner, she flew into the arms of her twin brother.

"Luke!" she called as he grabbed her around the waist.

As ben turned the corner, he caught sight of Tahiri, and visibly flinched. Tahiri's head was facing away, and she did not see him. Anakin, however, did.

"Why are you scared of Tahiri, ben?" he asked. The minutest headshake from Leia, caught out of the quarter of ben's eye, told him not to answer.

"We had an issue about two years ago, it ended badly for both of us, and I've been a little wary since." He carefully replied.

At virtually the same moment, the bell went off by the head of Han's bed, as he began to stir.


	7. But even the Force cannot always help

As his family packed themselves into the bay, Han Solo groggily turned over, muttering "Where's my blaster?" to no-one in particular.

"It's not under your pillow, Han. You don't have a blaster at the moment." Leia answered gently.

"Where am I? This isn't our apartment."

"You're in hospital, dear." Leia told him. "You've had a heart attack."

"Rodder." he muttered as he dozed off again.

Just after he had dozed off, Cilghal came into the room. "We can't expect too much for now." She told them, hustling them respectfully out through the door. "He'll be awake tomorrow, in all probability. Come back then, and let him get some rest for now."

~0~

Finally, Vestara had a visitor. It was one of the Jedi masters she recalled meeting during the hunt for Abeloth.

"Master Durron. The human male introduced himself. "Please call me Kyp. I've been assigned to you as your councillor; to help you get over anything you may regret doing under the influence of the dark side."

"Greetings, Master Durron."

"Kyp, please."

"That's not going to be easy, mast... Kyp"

"Why is it so hard for you to use my first name?"

"Force of habit. If I had called a Sith master their first name…. Well, it would not have been pleasant"

"Ah. Moving on, is there anything you want to tell me?"

"Where to start? Sixteen years of sith malpractice takes a lot of getting over."

"Six weeks sith malpractice was enough for a life time by my reckoning."

"By the way," she asked. "I don't suppose you could take these binders off, could you?"

"Grand master's orders say they stay on until he gets back. Sorry."

He left, chuckling, as Vestara began to squirm against her cuffs. She was starting to regret reapplying them to her wrists at all. Still, when ben got back from wherever he had gone, there could, she guessed, be _certain_ compensations.

~0~

With Cilghal insistent on their departure, the assorted members of the Solo/Skywalker clan who were present filed out of the medcenter entirely. Anakin, despite his mother's invitation, decided to spend the night at Tahiri's, while Luke and Ben settled into organised quarters within the temple.

~0~

As they were rolled up into a pair of Nabooan carpets, neither Jaina nor Jag utilized the very limited movement available in order to struggle, as it would have been a waste of time. As they were manhandled onto another ship, Jaina took the opportunity to activate a small Jedi issue tracker she had sown into the back of every pair of her trousers, and even into the pants of her admittedly skimpy bikini, which she was currently wearing. It would send a silent distress signal through to the Temple comcenter, using a frequency that would not be picked up by the most sophisticated military com-wave detectors on the black market.

Finally, they were dumped into a small cage, which had an Ysalamiri and olbio tree in a small cut out in the centre, confining any attempts Jaina might have made to use the Force.

Once they were inside the cage and the door had been secured, a knife was used to free Jaina's hands, before being pushed through the cage's mesh so she could use it, after she had removed her blindfold, to free her ankles, and Jag. Once they were both free, they were able to open a small box, which contained a pile of military ration packs and several high volume containers of water. Grimacing, Jaina opened a ration pack, poured herself a drink, and lay back against the side of the cage, knowing it would be a rather long trip.

~0~

On Ossus, the duty comms officer was alarmed when Jaina's alert arrived. The fact that Jaina Solo was calling for help was far more serious, in some ways, than a young knight on their first solo mission doing so. The chances of her needing help were so remote that the alarm's activation was grounds for a transmission to be sent to Luke Skywalker.

~0~

It was three in the morning when Luke got the message. Grumbling, her staggered over to the holonet transceiver, and hit the button to take the call.

"Grand Master Skywalker, go ahead." He muttered to the receiver, as the head of Corran Horn materialised over the projector.

"Master Skywalker," Corran began. "We may have a situation on our hands."

"What type of thing?" Luke asked, wondering if the academy was close to coming under attack from a marauding imperial fleet or something similar.

"Jaina Solo has just activated her personal distress alert."

"I can see why you're worried."

"If she's done that, it means she is in serious trouble."

"For once, this probably isn't a case of I'm locked out of my hotel room, I've just been mugged or the usual causes of such a transmission."

"I would like permission to activate plan delta."

"Granted." Luke stated without hesitation. "Send Saba, Kyle, and some of the wild knights to respond. You are cleared for starfighters and a pair of blastboats."

"Thank you, master Skywalker."

"No problem, Corran. If you want me to return, I will. Also, give Kyle a message for Jaina, telling her that her dad's had a heart attack and Anakin's back."

"Wilco. Temple out."

As he lay back down, Luke knew he wouldn't get anymore sleep that night, as he knew that his concern for Jaina would take a while to ease.


	8. And lost treasures must be found

Even by the next morning, Luke simply had not slept a win, and he realised that he could not simply stay on Coruscant, as anyone capable of capturing Jaina Solo alive was very likely to be able to take down almost any Jedi Knight, and most of the Masters. With Saba, Kyle Katarn and the remnants of the old Wild Knights squadron to contend with, he knew even Mandolorians would struggle. Still, one more call-sign never hurt in these sorts of operations. And he was the best in the order.

~0~

Once Tahiri had finally fallen asleep, Anakin began to wonder how she and Ben had actually fallen out, as he had detected some deception from Ben, which had suggested he wasn't being told the whole truth, and at that, he began to wonder about his brother, and why everyone was reluctant to talk about him, and how he died. He had been unable to use his old username while in the temple, which suggested some destruction had taken place. Had Jacen been killed in that? He wondered. Or had Jacen been responsible? The thought was almost laughable, but somehow, things seemed to feel right when he thought that way.

~0~

It was a surprisingly short time before Jaina and Jag's captors returned, bearing imperial prison uniforms for both of them. When the clothes were thrust through the bars, Jaina grabbed hers in seconds, realising as she put it on that the material it was made from was high quality. It also fitted well. That was a surprise for Jaina, who, over the course of her life had spent a few months behind bars, mainly in various guardhouses. She had, admittedly, once spent three weeks in a Coruscant young offenders over a combination of charges for speeding, twoc and failing to stop. Her speeder license had been suspended for three months afterwards.

Once they were both wearing their uniforms, the inevitable two sets of shock shackles were passed into the cell. Sighing, Jaina reluctantly let Jag apply her set, before returning the favour.

Once they were bound, the two prisoners were led out of the cage, with two blasters aimed at each of them, preventing any thoughts of resistance being contemplated.

After a short march of about ten minutes, they were loaded onto a lambda class shuttle. As they were marched up the boarding ramp, Jaina caught a glimpse of where they were. A cluster of black holes filled the hanger entrance, sending a deep bolt of foreboding rocketing through her body.

~0~

As he clambered out of bed, Ben was rather alarmed to notice his grab bag was full, and that a ration pack had been placed on top. Realising that meant his father was on the move, he reluctantly dug in, before heading for the speeder bay where his speeder was docked.

When he arrived his father was carrying a hold-all. This made Ben even more nervous, as it had a bulge about the size of a star-fighter helmet at one end.

"Err, dad," Ben asked "where are we going?"

"Back to Ossus. Once there, I am going to help look for Jaina."

"why?"

"Someone's managed to abduct her."

"Kriff."

"Language. As you can imagine, that's got the masters and me worried."

"How?"

"We are guessing at this time, as the only thing we actually know is that she's triggered one of her personal alarms."

"If she's tripped one of those…" Ben began, looking startled.

"It means she's in serious trouble. The life signs readouts show she's at least still alive, although she shows signs of stress." Luke completed for him.

Without further questions Ben jumped into his speeder, starting the engine as Luke climbed in alongside.

"Ben," he told his son, "we don't need to break most of the traffic rules on Coruscant to get home quicker. Then Ben floored it, and Luke decided not to give him anymore advice, although he did surreptitiously make sure his seatbelt was secure.

~0~

As they departed, Leia was sat by Han's bed, waiting for him to wake up again. It wasn't long before he did. After trying to reach under his pillow, looking for a blaster pistol that would never be there, he rolled to face her, gave her a lopsided smile, and dozed off again. She had never seen Han so beaten, not even after he had nearly died in the desert on Tatooine, during a failed attempt to recover her most valued possession: Killik Twilight.

As she continued to watch over him, a feeling of peace slowly pervaded the area, washing through the Force gently, and reassuringly, comforting her as a glowing figure began to materialise at the foot of Han's bed. It was a face she only recognised from a collection of holos that had once been displayed in her families palace.

"Obi-Wan." She breathed.

As he heard her, she saw the venerable face become almost seraphic.

"Leia," the old man said, "he will recover. That is the will of the Force."

"It's good to finally meet you, Master." She almost gushed. "You saved my life all those years ago."

"This is no social call." The old man continued. "The state of his recovery lies in your hands."

"What must I do, master?"

"To ensure your husband's full recovery, you must recover the Healing Crystals of fire. Without them, he will never be able to fight again."


	9. As grim news abounds

As she slugged down a third capful of the brandy she had brought with her, in the hope of celebrating Han's regaining consciousness, Leia still had no idea what Obi-Wan had meant by the Healing Crystals of Fire. The old man had faded from her view almost as he uttered the final word, which had seemed to hang in the air long after the old man had vanished. Finally, the alcohol prompted her to search for the term on the holonet. When she saw the information, she felt as if she had hit aurodium.

~0~

When she felt Ben's Force presence touch down on Ossus, Vestara felt a sense of relief. The cuffs around her wrists had become so encumbering over his absence; she had begun to wonder if her hands would be able to move further apart, or into a different position. Eating had been hard, until she had convinced Master Katarn to switch off the cell's Force-blocking shield while she was eating. It had been a bit awkward at first, but she had got used to eating with the Force after a while.

"Ben," she called as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "I hope you've got the key to these things."

"Don't worry, Ves," he called back. "Dad said to let you out as soon as we got here."

"Good."

As he opened the cell, be produced a key, and was unsurprised when it was ripped from his hand and flew straight into the cuffs.

"Nice trick." He complimented her, before moving behind her to give her shoulders a good massage.

After a few seconds, he noticed the cuffs were still on her wrists, "uh, Ves…" he began.

"Ben?" she asked, in a tone he knew meant trouble, "Is there a problem?"

"I thought…"

"That I wanted these cuffs off. I do. I just want to have some fun first."

Blushing slightly, Ben undid one of the hinged binders, before turning it round and securing her hands behind her back. Then he ran his hands inside her jacket, and she began to squirm with pleasure and anticipation, before he gently picked her up and placed her on the cells narrow bed.

"You sure?" he murmured, as he ran his hand through the row of buttons holding her shirt shut.

"Absolutely," she responded, before opening his flies with the Force, and wrapping her legs round his hips.

~0~

As Jaina was marched out of the shuttle, after a relatively short flight, she was, to say the least, unsurprised by the reception committee.

"Admiral Daala." Jag greeted the woman waiting for them. "What a pleasant surprise." The sarcasm in the second statement could have sliced through transparisteel.

"Jagged Fel." Daala's voice was, if anything, icier than anything Jaina had ever heard from her mother. "How nice of you and your wife to drop in on us."

"This is kidnapping, Admiral." Jaina stated. "The Jedi Order's finest are on their way to free us. Let us go now, and I will ensure you get a fair trial."

"Ah," Daala replied. "The legendary Jedi optimism. Misplaced, I must say. Your pathetic Order is walking into a trap, and it will catch them all. I have five squadrons of Mandolorian Bes'uliik starfighters waiting for your rescuer. I doubt the Order will bother to send more than one StealthX to your assistance. "

"Admiral, do you honestly think that Master Skywalker would send one being after me, if he thinks I've been captured?" Jaina asked. "His attitude would be, that, if whoever got me was capable of taking down Jaina Solo, then nearly any other rescuer would stand no chance. He will come himself, and he will bring the best the Jedi order can offer, beg, borrow or pirate."

"You think Master Skywalker will call a general mobilisation of the Jedi Order, just to free one woman?" Daala scoffed. "Anyway, it is time for you to begin your holiday, courtesy of me." She gestured, and a platoon of Gamorreans marched in. "These fine fellows will now proceed to give you two a good beating," she told her two prisoners. "Once you are unconscious, you will be stripped and put on display in the base cantina, in a stasis cell, for forty-eight hours."

As the thugs began to attack, Jaina realised that, until the rescue mission arrived, Daala had managed to catch them in a way resistant to the old proverb.

~0~

After finally persuading Tahiri to get out of their shared bed, Anakin finally asked the question he had been rehearsing over and over again. "What happened to Jacen?" he asked Tahiri.

"He fell." She replied. "He took me with him, in that fall, after trying to take Ben first."

"What do you mean, by _he fell_?"

"Sit down." Tahiri told him, and then continued. "Your brother did not die as Jacen Solo. He died as Darth Caedus."

"My brother died a Sith?" Anakin almost sobbed. "At whose hands? Luke's?"

"Jaina killed him. She is still recovering from doing so."

Then she gently sat by Anakin, and held him as he sobbed with grief, both at his brother's death, and at the fact Jaina, his own sister; Jacen's twin sister, had ultimately delivered the deathblow.


	10. And stormclouds gather

N/b A Ronto is a New Jedi Order equivalent of a youngling, not a beast of burden.

As Ben and Vestara entered his office, Luke was forced to smother a smile, both at the slight blush on their faces, and at the unconscious way they were holding hands. As he looked closer, he noticed two separate layers of marks from the binders she had spent the last week or so in, and guessed she and Ben had found an _alternative_ use for the binders.

He also knew that particular use was the main reason the security lockers containing the various forms of restraint were kept under lock and key, only accessible to the Master in charge of security. The addition of in/out books for binders had almost eliminated the occasional incidences of ronto's being found handcuffed to railings and trees, and the very rare incidences of an apparently experienced Jedi becoming stuck for whatever reason, and needing assistance. Still, those more experienced Jedi's misfortunes were usually good for about a week's amusement in the refectory, he reflected. The time Valin Horn had walked into his quarters, having spent half an hour walking round naked, with binders securing his hands behind his back, still made him smile. He had had words with the girl responsible though, as taking advantage of his inability to unlock the binders had been somewhat cruel.

"Dad, you wished to see us?" Ben asked.

"Ben, I need you to take over as Vestara's master, while I am away looking for Jaina. Master Katarn and Master Durron will be accompanying me, along with Master Horn and Master Sebatyne."

"I'm not invited?"

"Could you beat Jaina and Jag on foot or in space?"

"Jag on foot, yes, Jag in space or Jaina in either, no."

"That's why you're not invited. Whoever took down those two had serious skills or a large team of Mandos backing them up"

Ben hesitated for a moment then said "Daala. It has to be her."

"Why do you say that?" Luke asked, confused.

"She meets the MMO criteria for a start. Motive; Jaina's a Jedi, Daala hates Jedi. Jag blew the leadership of the imperial remnant out from under her; Daala would hate him for that. Daala is on good terms with Fett, and therefore the remainder of the Mandolorians, so there's Means. As for Opportunity; if she had Jag under surveillance, she would have every opportunity to abduct them both, if she had a strike team of Mandos."

"Ok, Sherlock. So, just explain why a disgraced politician…" He suddenly broke off. "No forget that. Kidnapping for revenge is something I can imagine Daala or nearly any other head of state being prepared to do."

~0~

The small building Leia's search had led her to was a fairly dank pre-Yuuzhan Vong permacrete bunker, which contained, according to her best information, the clan of Jawas responsible for scavenging the ruins of the Jedi temple after the emperor's death over Endor.

Behind her, Threepio was decidedly less determined to visit the place, and would have preferred a holocall.

As she walked through the main door, the jabber of the Jawas inside stopped as they all noticed her and the clan leader came scuttling over and squeaked something to her.

"He greets you as a Jedi, and requests your reason for coming." Threepio translated.

"I am engaged in the search for the healing crystals of fire."

Chitter

"He asks why his clan should know anything about the thing you seek."

"Your clan scavenged the Jedi temple." Leia stated.

Squickle

"He says the empire took everything once they had finished."

"Do you remember a large crystal?" she cupped her hands to indicate a rough estimate if the size. "It had what looked like a fire burning inside."

Cleek cla

"The thing you seek was gifted to the emperor personally by his predecessor."

"Where was it last known?"

Kla

"Over Endor."

"Rodder." Leia muttered under her breath, before giving the Jawa a hundred credit chip, and escorting Threepio out.

~0~

As Anakin wept, Tahiri knew she needed to do something to stop his grief becoming overwhelming. As she guessed sex would not be high on his priorities list, she instead floated him into a private turbolift that would take them to the small 'roof' garden she maintained.

~0~

Drifting in and out of consciousness, Jaina lay on a bunk in her small cell, every inch of her body seeming to have its own, private pain. She was surprised not to be in the small base's mess hall, but realised Daala must have decided it was unnecessary to torture her in that fashion.

Then the cell door opened, and a brutal slap caused Jaina to cry out, jerking her into something resembling lucidity.

"You bitch." Jaina swore at Daala. "Try taking the binders off and see what that gets you."

"You know, master solo, that I am not stupid. Taking your cuffs of would enable you to demonstrate your ability to kill me in a hand to hand fight."

Drawing her blaster, Daala set it to burn, and then began blasting Jaina with the low lethality bolts until she collapsed back into the darkness.

~0~

As Luke, with the able assistance of Artoo-Detoo, went through the final pre-flight checks for his StealthX, he suddenly felt a disconnected sense of pain seeking him through the force. Only his instincts told him it was Jaina sending it.

The pain slowly grew before ceasing so suddenly he was worried, for an instant, that she was dead. Then he checked the read-out on her life signs, which confirmed she was simply unconscious, and clearly injured.

~0~

"So, Vestara. What have you done?" ben asked her in his most master-like tone, before smothering a reciprocation of Vestara's laughter at the tone.

"Where to start?" she asked, as the quakes of mirth finally subsided.

"At the first act you now hate yourself for." Ben replied.

"That would be my first act of sith betrayal. I told my father about a friend who had suggested he was going to be a Jedi. Dad told his family and he vanished."

"How old were you?"

"Eight."

"Which means you had some idea of the consequences."

"I knew that the Jedi were bad. That was it."

"And what would you do now, if you had the chance to change things?"

"I would withhold the information from my father."

"Why?"

"Because it would stop him causing evil."

"Would someone else have told him?"

"Another child would have told their own father."

"So all you did was provide information to your father, without any knowledge of what he was likely to do?"

"Yes." She looked rather downcast at the statement.

"Then it is not truly your fault." Ben told her gently, before kissing her. She responded with equal vigour and he drew her onto his lap.


	11. The strong must stand

Just before Luke entered hyperspace, he took the chance of one final holocall to Ben.

"Ben," he said, once his son had picked up. The subtle flush on his cheeks was not disguised entirely by the blue overtones of the holocomm. "I can tell _exactly_ what you and Vestara have been getting up to in my absence, and think you ought to know that you will be expelled from the Order if I come back and she happens to be pregnant."

"Wilco, dad. No getting her pregnant 'til you get back."

"I mean it"

"I love you."

Luke rang off, smiling at his son's somewhat insubordinate humour.

~0~

The slight lurch as the falcon dropped out of hyperspace brought Leia out of a light sleep of the kind which had become remarkably easy to fall into at the falcon's controls, now the cockpit had been renovated. Then Leia remembered that the girl responsible had been one of the things she and Luke had talked about during his all-too-brief time on the capital world. That she had been allowed back into the order alarmed Leia, but she knew her brother was a little too trusting at times. Ben was simply in love with her. Leia, however, would be waiting for treachery. Vestara Khai was the one girl Ben had dated she would not want to have as a niece-in-law.

As she guided the falcon through the omnipresent debris from the **B**attle of Endor, Leia made the usual calls to the spaceport authority, and was surprised when a Ewok answered the call.

"Threepio, get up here!" she called to the protocol droid.

"Yes mistress." The droid called back.

As she waited for the droid to arrive, Leia began to wonder whether there would be anything to find.

~0~

It took a full day for Ben to begin to become restless. Without his father or any other being he normally interacted with, even Vestara's company began to grow slightly boring. His sixteen year-old mind and body had almost become used to adventure during his father's exile, and he wanted something to do.

It took him about ten minutes to slice into his father's data terminal. In half an hour, he issued an order, dated two hours after they got back, for him to go and hunt down a small pirate gang attacking ships on routes near Ossus. He would be able to base himself out of the temple spaceport, rather than the sort of space station where a StealthX starfighter attracted unwelcome attention. It was a decision with unforeseen consequences.

~0~

As Luke reverted from hyperspace at the last known position of Jaina's emergency signal, which had faded about a day before, except for the life sign trace, which used a carrier wave that was not compatible with a locator, as it could only carry continuously changing data.

The sight which greeted him, from a scientific point of view was very predictable; the black hole cluster of the Maw. Luke had been there too recently not to shudder at his memories of Abeloth, a dark-side, immortal entity which had been imprisoned within for millennia. They had managed to banish her into the force, but he knew she would be back.

As he keyed the starfighter's navicomputer for the first set of coordinates, he already knew where he was going. Shelter.

~0~

Because of the rules on Vestara his father had laid down, Ben could not put her in command of the shadow, acting as bait for the pirates he was hunting.

Instead, he had borrowed a newly qualified knight, already tipped for the Jedi fighter squadrons, a young Twi'lek known Lima. He had avoided Vestara seeing her, as the Twi'lek was female and did look somewhat attractive.

With Ben loaded into his StealthX, and the cockpit set to remain open until he lifted up, the shadow, operating under the name _Flower of Ryloth_, the two Jedi made a unsecured distress call indicating the craft was a smugglers ship hauling a mixture of foodstuffs and a small cache of weapons and ship parts, and had suffered a hyperdrive failure. The pirates did not waste time in showing up. Within a few minutes, a small corvette had dropped out of hyperspace and was bleeding a mixture of Headhunters and Uglies into space; a force the sensors estimated as a squadron of each. He launched his StealthX, while sending the code to reveal the vessel's true colours.

To their credit, the pirates didn't hesitate to press the attack. As the Jade Shadow's cannons deployed, then turned space red, Ben was looping round to deliver a shadow bomb into the rear of the corvette.

After the first discharge, aimed for the corvette's shield generators, in the moments before the craft's point defence gunners could pick him out on the targeting displays, he deployed a pair of shadow bombs straight into the vessels engines, sending it sprawling to starboard as they detonated.

He then activated the comlink onboard, simply broadcasting the message he wanted to send into the ether.

"This is Jedi Knight Ben Skywalker, calling the pirates engaging the space yacht Jade Shadow. Your corvette has been disabled. You are stranded here, unless you surrender."

"Jedi knight Skywalker," the snarled reply came back. "You do not scare us. You will die before we do. You have one yacht and a single fighter. If you do not surrender to us in the next ten standard minutes, we will destroy the yacht. Even a Jedi cannot destroy our entire complement of fighters and our corvette with one fighter." The man's tone was less convinced of his words than might have been expected.

"If you surrender now I will consider you and all of your men prisoners. Ben stated into the com.

"Why would we…" the snarling thug suddenly broke off, and then continued in a more wheedling tone." We surrender."

The change in the thug's manner had been prompted by the appearance of a 'pirate nabber' star destroyer, which had already deployed its fighter wings before making itself known.

"Admiral Kalarooh," Ben greeted the vessel's Wookie commander. "What kept you?"

-My hyperdrive suffered a coolant problem. - The text appeared on the screen a moment later. –We had to use the back-up-

"Good to know you made it. I was about to start wiping these loudmouths out."

-You would have done so- the Wookie stated, before using his tractor beam to begin the arrest process.

-Fleet Intel have been hunting these guy's for months.-

"Good to know we got them."

Suddenly, Ben felt a alarm in the force, seeming connected both to his neck and mental picture of Vestara.

~0~

As Vestara watched the two visitors to the academy from behind one of the many hedges to delimitated sections of the academy grounds, she realised how close she had come to destroying that scene before it came into being, with her attempt to prove herself by murdering Allana Solo. The knowledge began to gnaw at her, and she felt a sudden blow in her mind as the realisation of her actions once again struck home.

~0~

After finally getting permission to land at the former imperial base on Endor, once the human controller, returning from his tea-break, had removed the Ewok, who, hearing a voice, had answered the com.

Her memories of the planet were good, but she could still remember when Ben had proven, in an old briefing room, that Jacen had killed Mara.

Once she arrived, she sought out the tribal representatives who were based in the building, and enquired whether they had any knowledge of what she sought.

She got better news than she had been expecting.

~0~

When Tahiri finally got back from the weekly shopping trip, carrying multiple bags of goods instead of the single bag she usually needed, she called to Anakin to "come and help me put this kriffing pile of junk in the fridge."

There was no response.

Worried, she dropped the bag and hurried into the apartment. In their shared bed, she found Anakin, clutching a bottle of very cheap potato vodka possessively.

"Anakin Solo!" she screeched. "What are you doing?"

"Feeling haappy." He replied, the slurring of his voice leaving her in no doubt of the fact he had not been sharing the bottle with anyone.

She wasted no time in ripping the bottle out of his hand, sending it into the recycler before he had time to react.

"Wad you do that for?" he demanded.

She replied by levitating him out of the double bed and depositing him on the sofa.

"You can sleep there." She told him, before calling a housekeeping droid to dispose of the shopping, and darting into the bedroom.

~0~

The cell Daala had moved Jaina into was somewhat more primitive than even the nick in Mos Eisley, which she had, admittedly, spent a night in as a young pilot, after starting a brawl in a cantina. She had been drunk, and the memories of the night were somewhat hazy, except for a moment of pleasure in a corner, courtesy of her current cellmate, Jagged Fel.

The room, as was predictable, used a bucket for sanitation, along with a sack of straw fir each of them to sleep on. Their ankles, as was usual in any imperial prison, were joined by a pair of magnacuffs, fitted with an 18" chain. That was enough to impede Jaina, who lost a quarter of her stride to the devices.

The door, unusually, was made using planks of what looked like Kashyyyk ironpine, wood even Wookie artisans rarely attempted to work in, due to the wood's very dense grain. It was almost impossible to burn, unless you had a lightsaber or plasma torch handy.

Jaina was even cut off from the Force by the seemingly omnipresent Ysalamiri Daala had scattered through the facility like glowsticks, and knew that her chances of finding a Ysalamir free corridor to work in were minimal, even if she did get out.

Jag, being Jag, was making an attempt with a piece of stone sheered off the wall. Over the three hours he had been using it, it had shrunk by several centimetres, while the door remained intact, except for a tiny grove that was full of stone powder.

Then her own project paid off, as she managed, without killing herself, to extract a length of live electrical wiring from a small wired comlink.

Reaching for the bucket of excrement, she tipped it over her bed, before pressing the wire into the mixture. One spark later, she knew, she would be on her way out of the cell, and one step closer to a shuttle-borne jailbreak.


End file.
